Food allergies and manufacturing processes
 

My Great Dane Hercules may have both a food allergy and a environmental allergy. When discussing with my vet, they suggested I put him on the veterinary diet as these companies clean out the "dog food machines" between batches of foods. I told them I would look into the brands but confessed I am a bit of a dog food snob. I went online to research the brands and was very disappointed in the ingredient line up. I was surprised to find some veterinary diets use chicken fat, especially since I suspect my dog is allergic to chicken and if cross contamination is an issue why wouldn't chicken fat be. Anyway, I went to my local pet store (in Saskatoon) and discussed allergies with the very well informed owner. He suggested I try a Canadian owned brand called Satori, they have a lamb and rice formula which does not contain even eggs (which I guess chicken allergy dogs may react to). I contacted the company to inquire about their manufacturing process. They also will clean out the machines between food with compressed air, they also hold back the first part of a food and they always make the chicken variety last to ensure it does not compromise their other flavors. I was thoroughly impressed by Satori's customer service and the information they gave me. Has anyone else asked their food company about their manufacturing process? I'm just wondering if all pet foods do this?

Good question! Sounds like a good practice, but to be honest, I've never asked about the manufacturing process.

I been buying my dog food from a natural pet store and I was told they only buy pet foods from companies that made small batches of food at a time. They don't carry and of the brands pet foods you buy at the grocery stores. Done of my pet foods come in 'pretty' colors and shapes , my dog could care less what his food looks like.

Oh yeah I would never buy a grocery store brand. I have never seen a pet food that I was impressed with in a grocery store or that had colored pieces in it.

Have you had your dog allergy tested? You have several options through a Vet specializing in dermatology; blood test, skin scrapings, mini innnocultaions to determine the exact allergans. Then some make up injections, use homeopathy, drugs, or best, avoidance, but that's hard with the environmental ones.

Due to unrelated illness my dog is now off the Atopica that made his seasonal environmental allergies tolerable and now he IS on a Rx diet, Rayne Low Fat Kangaroo Maintenance, which is also an allergy food.

[url]http://www.raynecanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/K9_LowFatKang_Oct14.pdf[/url]

Amazingly his allergies have ceased. Before he was on raw food and that also cleared up his allergies but it's hard to control the fat levels with raw.

I also did the Nutriscan saliva test on him and we found he Does have some food allergies after all.

[url]http://www.nutriscan.org/[/url]

I looked up the Satori food, it seems like a decent food with a good ingredient list but I have not fed it or dealt with the company. It's nice that it is Canadian. Good luck, let us know how the food works out for you.

Thanks for the input! I have looked at Rayne before and have been impressed with it as a veterinary diet, however, it would be VERY expensive for me to feed it to my 130lb dog. Not that I wouldn't do it, it's just I would like to take this one step at a time as I am a stay at home mom and need to be thoughtful on the money I am spending. I also feel the same way about Atopica, it's a great product but would really break my bank to have him on it. LOL. If I see no results with this feed trial I would consider doing allergy testing. I am familiar with the Dr Yu Clinic out of Guelph University which comes here regularly to do testing. I did look through all of the diets he has been on since birth and it seems as though chicken and poultry seem to be the common protein, with one exception, I had him on Acana Pacifica for probably 9 months, he did not improve. I also have a JRT with chicken allergies who did not do well on this diet so I am wondering if it is an issue with eggs or a possible cross contamination with that diet. Either way we are trying something new and hopefully we see some improvement. I have been very impressed with Satori and hope to spread the good word about it and the great company it is.

Just an update of Herc, he has been on Satori Lamb for 5 months now and is doing incredibly. My vet put him on sulfatrim (antibiotics) for 6 weeks to clear up his skin infection and we bath him regularly but his coat has come back and is shiny and full. I do believe he has an environmental allergy as well but he seems to be manageable with baths and having his food issues in check.

That's really good to hear, thank you for the update. :)

Choose natural and healthy products!
 

Nowadays, most of the dog food companies are using chemicals and artificial colours while making the product. So it is difficult to blame any one company, the only thing which ca be done is choosing a product which is natural, healthy and is made with no chemicals.

I am feeding Dogsee Chew treats to my dog. It is natural and is made from yak milk cheese from the Himalayas. The best part is, it is human grade so even I can have it.

Hm, I was surprised when it turned out that my Cooper has food allergy...He was itching like crazy and shaking his head constantly and I suspected he had ear inflammation or something like that, but didn't expect to be told that it was caused by food allergy. It turned out that ear inflammation, diarrhea and even chronic gas are the symptoms of food allergy. Our vet even asked me if my dog lick his feet....??!!

Now when JRTowner said that his pet has both food and environmental allergy, I remembered that my vet also told that most pets are usually allergic to more than one thing, but luckily, Cooper has 'only' a grain allergy. It's not something you wanna hear when you think you are doing it all right :( I know pet food labels can be a bit tricky to decipher and I usually pay enough attention to it, but I never thought about the manufacturing process?? How can I, as a pet parent, can check something like that?

Anyhow, when I realized that Cooper needed special diet, I switched to Ivorycoat grain free food and it still works ok for us for the past 4 months. What I am afraid of is that he might get bored of the same food type... Earlier, I used to change his food every 6 months, since he just used to get bored of it after a while.
Has anyone of you had any experiences with this food type?
If you have any other recommendations regarding grain free food, please share!